A case of acute eosinophilic pneumonia with clinical features overlapping with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) represents a clinical entity distinct from chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP). In contrast with CEP, AEP is characterized by duration of symptoms less than 5 days, hypoxemic respiratory failure, no blood eosinophilia at presentation, no atopic background or history of asthma, and no recurrence. However, we report a case of AEP with some features of CEP. A 33-year-old man presented with respiratory symptoms for 4 days. He was diagnosed with AEP based on hypoxemic respiratory failure, diffuse alveolar-interstitial chest X-ray infiltrates, and eosinophilia, lymphocytosis and neutrophilia from bronchoalveolar lavages. However, he had two atopic diseases, asthma and atopic dermatitis. In addition, he presented with blood eosinophilia, which are all features of CEP. Thus, there might be some overlap of clinical features between AEP and CEP. The presence of increased lymphocytes and neutrophils in the bronchoalveolar lavage can be an important finding to help distinguish between AEP versus CEP in difficult cases.